The Common App for transfer Program User Guide
This guide provides you with documentation, reference guides, and direct links that answer common admissions questions about The Common App for transfer Applicant Portal and WebAdMIT. It also contains resources that may help you work more efficiently throughout your admissions process. If you have additional questions or need further assistance, please contact a member of your account team.
Cycle Timeframes
Applicant Portal
The Applicant Portal opens in late July and closes in late July. You can view the specific cycle dates, including final processing dates (e.g., last date to submit transcripts, last date to request letters of recommendation, etc.), on The Common App for transfer Cycle Dates page.
Configuration Portal
Between early March and late May, configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The account team and The Common App for transfer review submitted configurations in June.
WebAdMIT
You can initiate a transfer settings before the cycle opens in late July, and view new applicants shortly after the new cycle opens in late July.
Program Participation Requirements
The Common App requires all programs to designate two contacts at your institution who will receive all communication from The Common App for transfer, including the application and WebAdMIT launch notifications.
Applicant Portal
The first three sections of The Common App for transfer application (i.e., Personal Information, Academic History, and Supporting Information) compose the core application. They contain questions that are commonly asked of applicants across all participating programs, such as an applicant's biographic information, standardized test scores, and experiences. The fourth section of the application is Program Materials, which is customized by you through the Configuration Portal (discussed in the next section).
You can access The Common App for transfer application and The Common App for transfer Help Center to review the applicant experience. You can also create a test application in the Applicant Portal; we recommend creating a new account and adding "test" to your name (e.g., TestJohn TestDoe).
For a general overview of the applicant experience, review the following documents:
- Applicant Processing Reference Guide: learn how applicants move through the application and Liaison processes applicant materials, such as transcripts. Note that only the Applicant Experience and Transcript sections are applicable to The Common App. In addition, The Common App only accepts electronic transcripts from National Student Clearinghouse and Parchment.
- Application Statuses Reference Guide: review what each application status means and how you can interact with applicants at different stages. Note that The Common App's final application status is "Complete."
- Review the requirements for The Common App for transfer Complete application status.
- The Common App for transfer Quick Start Guide and FAQs: a suggested timeline for completing and submitting the application, links to important pages including cycle dates and fees, and a FAQs section.
You can direct any applicant inquiries related to the application to The Common App for transfer Customer Service.
Configuration Portal
Use the Configuration Portal Quick Start Guide to make sure you configure your program(s) efficiently and completely in the prelaunch environment. Be sure to check out your CAS's configuration options and review the best practices found throughout. If any optional sections of the application are required for your program (e.g., experiences, test scores, etc.), you'll want to note this on your program home page.
Once you've configured your program, you'll need to have it approved by the account team and The Common App before it is available to applicants. If your program is reviewed after the cycle launches, The Common App will approve it.
WebAdMIT
Review The Common App for transfer Quick Start Guide for any questions related to working in WebAdMIT. The Reference Guides and WebAdMIT Training and Support sections are additional resources as you configure WebAdMIT for your needs. Documents commonly requested include:
- Application Coupons Reference Guide: learn how to request coupons to offset application fees and disperse them to applicants.
- Application Coupon Codes FAQs: review answers to frequently asked questions about offering coupon codes.
- Data Dictionaries and Master Code Lists: a comprehensive list of all fields available in the Export Manager and Report Manager, including associated lookup tables.
- Invitation Codes Reference Guide: learn how to offer individual deadline extensions directly to applicants
- Social Security Number (SSN) Documents Reference Guide: a guide on how to configure a PGP key to receive an encrypted file that contains the applicant's CAS ID and SSN.
- Transfer Settings Guide: a review of how programs and templates built in WebAdMIT are carried forward each cycle. Note that The Common App does not use the Scoring, Assignment, Interviewing, and Local GPAs features.
The Release Notes feature new enhancements in the Applicant Portal, Applicant Gateway, Configuration Portal, Liaison Letters, and WebAdMIT, in addition to upcoming training opportunities.
For any questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team.
Cycle Enhancements
2025-2026
The table below contains enhancements for Common App for transfer for the cycle timeframes noted at the top of this page. Note that some sections have multiple enhancements. If an action is required by participating programs to use the enhancement, click the links under Enhancement Details to learn more. Additional enhancements may have been automatically released; review the Release Notes to learn more.
|
Portal |
Section |
Enhancement Details |
Implementation |
Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Applicant Portal |
Academic History – Standardized Tests |
Applicants can now self-report their Next Generation ACCUPLACER test scores. You can view their scores under the Standardized Tests panel on the Applicant Details page. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Documents |
Applicants can delete existing and upload new documents after they submit their application. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Other Information |
The following text now appears in the Household question when an applicant indicates they have children: Resources for Parenting Students: Our Transfer Resource Center helps connect student parents to childcare resources. Use these resources to learn more about your rights as a student and reach your education goals. Additionally, a new Responsibilities and Circumstances question block was added and the Additional Questions block was updated. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Configuration Portal |
Organization Details |
The following fields are now included on the College Transcripts worksheet in program configuration exports:
|
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available now |
|
Liaison Letters |
Email Templates |
The evaluation form type name is now included in the following email templates:
|
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
WebAdMIT |
Applicant Details Page Email Templates Export Manager List Manager |
The Title field is no longer collected in the application and will be removed from WebAdMIT. You will need to update any lists, exports, emails, and other integrations to account for this field removal. |
Action required by all participating programs. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
WebAdMIT |
Applicant Details Page Export Manager List Manager |
If your CAS has different recommendation types, a Letter Type column appears in the Evaluations panel and contains data for program-level recommendations. Additionally, a new Evaluation Sub Type field is available in the List Manager and Export Manager. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
2024-2025
The table below contains enhancements for Common App for transfer for the cycle timeframes noted at the top of this page. Note that some sections have multiple enhancements. If an action is required by participating programs to use the enhancement, click the links under Enhancement Details to learn more. Additional enhancements may have been automatically released; review the Release Notes to learn more.
|
Portal |
Section |
Enhancement Details |
Implementation |
Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Affirmation Statements |
Applicants can edit their responses to questions in the Affirmation Statements section after submitting their application. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Academic History – College Coursework |
Applicants can view instructions when entering their coursework details. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Academic History – High Schools Attended |
The Graduation Status answer option was updated to I have or will have a high school equivalency like a GED. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Other Information |
A new Household question was added. The questions were also reordered. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Achievements |
The Honors achievement type option was changed to Honors or Honor Societies. The answer options were also reordered. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Configuration Portal |
Question Rules |
The Change Deadline and Program Availability rules can now be built at the organization level, meaning that they can be applied to some or all programs under an organization. |
Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement. |
Available now |
|
Liaison Letters |
High School Official Evaluation Form |
The High School field character limit was increased to 20 characters. The CEEB field limit was decreased to 6. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
WebAdMIT |
List Manager Export Manager |
The Admissions Uploaded Documents fields were disabled. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
WebAdMIT |
Work Groups |
In WebAdMIT, you can configure Work Groups to allow users to see specific panels on the Applicant Details Page. With this enhancement (from Release 11, 2023) if you remove access to a panel for a Work Group, the fields in that panel are also not available for the Work Group to see when creating exports, lists, or PDF manager templates. For example, if the Race and Ethnicity subpanel is not enabled for a Work Group, its members will not see the information from that panel when creating an export, and will not be able to create filters in List Manager using any of the fields from that panel. As a result of this enhancement, reports that are not shared with Work Groups from the Report Settings page will be inaccessible to anyone who is not a WebAdMIT Administrator. Review the How Work Groups Impact Access to Features and Fields documentation to learn more about the impacts of this enhancement. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |